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“Nationalism is the only system of widespread altruism that works” sounds a lot like “the horse and buggy is the only system of long distance transportation tha
by oa335 6y ago
“Nationalism is the only system of widespread altruism that works” sounds a lot like “the horse and buggy is the only system of long distance transportation that actually works”.
- dash2 6y agoSure, if you invent the automobile, tell me about it. I've said why I think the alternatives are inferior.
- taeric 6y agoThis ignores some forms of religion. A fairly old cross national system. Complete with is own set of problems.
- dash2 6y agoYup, that's an excellent point. Religion invokes various kinds of altruism - often though not always limited to the in-group - and it clearly "works" in some sense and has survived for millennia. I guess it's hard to recommend religion to someone on that basis though, because that is not the basis that religion recommends itself on. You can't become a Christian because you think (like Rodney Stark) that Christians are very helpful to each other. You can only be a Christian by accepting Christ as your personal saviour.
- taeric 6y ago"Accepting" the belief of a religion is far less friction than moving to a place. Not even comparable to having been born there. :D